In a new wave of job cuts, Microsoft has announced the layoff of 650 employees from its Xbox division, marking the second major workforce reduction of the year within its gaming arm. The job cuts follow a previous workforce reduction of approximately 1900 positions in January this year.

As per the company, these layoffs are part of broader restructuring efforts aimed at streamlining its gaming operations, particularly after its takeover of Activision Blizzard. The news about the recent layoffs was brought to light for employees through an internal memo from Microsoft’s gaming chief, Phil Spencer.

According to the memo, the latest wave of job cuts will predominantly affect corporate and support roles within the company’s gaming division. Spencer ensured that no games, devices, or experiences were being canceled, and no studios would be closed after the layoffs.

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Microsoft Offering Exit Packages With Severance Pay

"For the past year, our goal has been to minimize disruption while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work," Spencer stated in the memo. "With these changes, our corporate and support teams and resources are aligned for sustainable future growth and can better support our studio teams and business units with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs,” Spencer said in the internal memo, as reported by The Verge.

According to the Memo, the latest job cuts at the company will impact employees both in the US and internationally. For affected workers in the US, the company will be providing exit packages that include severance pay, extended healthcare benefits, and outplacement services to assist with the transition to new employment. Packages for employees outside the US will differ on regional guidelines and policies.

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Layoffs At Microsoft In 2024

Microsoft’s gaming chief also mentioned that these job cuts will enable the company’s corporate and support teams to align better with the studio and business units. "Our teams will now be better supported with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs," Spencer wrote.

Notably, the recent layoffs came after the company reduced a large workforce in January 2024. During that period, Microsoft laid off around 1900 employees, including high-profile figures such as Mike Ybarra. The January job cuts followed Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, one of the largest deals in gaming history.

Since taking over Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has been focused on minimizing disruption while integrating new teams into its structure. According to the company, the restructuring will help Microsoft Gaming’s corporate and support teams better align with the needs of studio teams and business units.

While most of the big corporations have developed AI models to make our lives easy, there are always those who use it for wrongdoings. One such instance is leveraging AI for “spoofing” to take control of digital accounts, including Gmail, the world’s most popular email service provider.

With more than 2.5 billion accounts, Gmail is an easy target for bad actors, who are using a new trick dubbed a “super realistic AI scam call,” which can fool even tech-savvy users.

Sam Mitrovic, the founder of CloudJoy and an expert on security products, recently published a blog about how he was duped online. He received an email mimicking an approval notification for his Gmail account recovery. The rejection was followed by a phone call with the caller ID showing “Google Sydney.”

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How Cybercriminals Used AI To Fool A User

A week later, Mitrovic got another Gmail recovery notification and a phone call. This call also came from a legitimate phone number listed on Google’s support page. The caller stated his account had been logged in from overseas for over a week, and the personal data related to the account had been downloaded.

He later got an email on his request, notifying him of the same issue but in text format. The email came from a Google domain, which could fool almost anyone. When the user got the call, he suspected it was a scam and started to investigate deeper. With the help of online forums, he confirmed it was a spoofing attempt to take over his Gmail account.

A legitimate phone number identical to Google Workforce support, an email with a Google domain spoofed using a Salesforce CRM, and a legitimate-sounding AI voice bot are more than enough to trick most users into falling for the scam.

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AI Voice Models Helping Scammers

Until a few years ago, these scams needed an actual person to make the voice call. However, with the advancements in AI, there are now realistic-sounding AI voice models, it has become simpler for scammers. Now, a bad actor can easily initiate thousands of these attempts at one time.

This instance shows that hackers use a combination of tricks, including fake emails, phone numbers, and AI bots to fool users. As of now, there is no foolproof way to prevent this from happening.

However, users can protect themselves from these scams by staying vigilant. In this day and age, our Gmail account is our digital identity, used for personal and professional reasons.

The iQOO 13 could soon see the light of day in India. According to a tipster, it is said to launch in China next month. The iQOO 13 is said to be among the first to come packed with Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset, suggesting its potential performance.

As per a report from Smartprix, citing tipster Yogesh Brar, suggesting that the iQOO 13 will be launched in India on December 5. However, Vivo has yet to confirm any launch dates for China or other global markets.

Recently, a smartphone with model number V2408A appeared on Geekbench, giving insights into the iQOO 13's capabilities. It shows an octa-core processor with two performance cores at 4.32GHz and six efficiency cores at 3.53GHz.

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iQOO 13 Posts Impressive Benchmark Scores

The benchmark scores hint at a robust processing power for the upcoming handset. The benchmark shows that the iQOO 13 scored with 3,142 points in single-core tests and 10,052 points in multi-core tests. These scores surpass those of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, which reportedly achieved 3,069 and 9080 points respectively using an 'overclocked' Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset.

When pitted against Apple’s latest smartphone, the iPhone 16 Pro Max managed to get higher scores in single-core tests with a score of 3,562 but fell short in multi-core tests with only 8,814 points.

This comparison highlights the competitiveness of iQOO’s upcoming smartphone might hold against other flagship devices. Despite these promising features and performance scores, some leaks hint that the iQOO 13 could have slower charging capabilities compared to its precursor, the iQOO 12.

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iQOO 13 Under The Hood

The smartphone is also tipped to get a new heat dissipation system and a supercomputing chip called Q2. The Geekbench entry also suggests that the smartphone will pack around 14.76GB of RAM, suggesting a variant with up to 16GB of memory. It is expected to run on Android 15 and feature Vivo's FuntouchOS 15 skin.

These specs hint at a high-performance device ready to compete in the market. For optics, the iQOO 13 will likely feature a triple-camera setup with a 50MP Sony IMX921 primary sensor, a 50MP Samsung JN1 ultrawide lens, and a 50MP Sony IMX826 periscope lens. The iQOO 13 will have a 32MP selfie camera.

Moreover, the smartphone will come with 4K video recording capabilities at 60fps on both front and back. The iQOO 13 is also said to feature the latest screen innovation from BOE in the form of a new 2K BOE Q10 OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate. The iQOO 13 could also have an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi is said to introduce a slew of generative AI user applications to its smartphones in India by the end of this fiscal year, people close to the matter suggested.

The move, which could kickstart with the company’s upper mid-range smartphones priced at around Rs 40,000, may help democratize generative AI features, which have so far largely remained reserved for premium smartphones.

The move is said to follow the recent launch of the Xiaomi 14T smartphone in global markets in Europe. The flagship-grade smartphone was introduced with Google’s Gemini suite of gen-AI features, including Google’s ‘Circle to Search’ and AI photo editor- which can be found in the latter’s own Pixel line of smartphones.

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Xiaomi To Join The Generative AI Race

The launch will put Xiaomi at par with other smartphone makers, including Apple, Samsung, Google, and Oppo in terms of generative AI features. While an exact timeline for the rollout isn’t certain yet, two of the three people cited above said that an India rollout of generative AI features across the company’s lineup could align with 2025’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.

“Generative AI still does not have a hook in terms of compelling users to pay extra for it. However, a brand like Xiaomi, which led the Indian smartphone market for five years—and continues to be a big part of it even now, cannot afford to fall behind the curve. Introduction of generative AI features in Xiaomi phones may also have been expedited by Oppo’s announcement of across-the-board generative AI features being added to all of its smartphones,” said one of the people, a senior industry consultant, cited above.

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Xiaomi’s New Move Could Boost Its Business

As of the June quarter, Xiaomi was the second biggest smartphone brand in India by volume, raking in more than 4.7 million (13.5%) of all smartphones sold in India. The company has led the smartphone market in India for five straight years between 2018 and 2022.

This makes it very important for the company to jump on the generative AI bandwagon since it could set the ball rolling on how other brands approach this feature. Another consultant said the company’s marketing efforts for the generative AI features will soon be ramped up in a bid to gauge market demand “see up to how much are users willing to pay for AI as a key feature.”

“One important bit to note is that Xiaomi has used AI as a marketing vehicle across its smartphone range for a while—be it in camera or software overall. Within AI, it is as yet unclear if generative AI will really make a big enough difference. But, given the prevalence of generative AI today, the brand can’t offer it as a feature at some point—and the effective way of doing it is by reducing the price point at which such features are available,” the second consultant said.

Realme brought two new products to India on October 15: the P1 Speed 5G phone and the company’s first headphones, the TechLife Studio H1. The TechLife Studio H1 sports a 40mm Giant PET diaphragm, making sure rich and immersive audio. It is certified with Hi-Res LDAC, guaranteeing high-quality audio playback.

The headphones also offer 360-degree Spatial Sound effects, creating a surround sound experience. The headphones come with Hybrid Noise Cancellation up to 43dB, effectively blocking out background noise so users can focus on their audio without distractions.

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Realme TechLife Studio H1 Features

Design-wise, the headphones come with a sleek matte metal finish, an adjustable head beam for a custom fit, easy-to-use function buttons, a collapsible metal shaft for portability, and soft memory foam cushions for added comfort during long listening sessions.

The company promises up to 70 hours of battery life on a single charge, so users can enjoy their music without frequent recharging. Available in colors like Midnight Magic, Ivory Beats, and Crimson Beats, there’s a style for everyone. Availability details are limited, but a Flipkart listing hints sales will kick off on October 21.

Besides, Realme has announced the launch of the Realme Pad 2 Lite tablet in the Indian market alongside the new budget-friendly Realme P2 Pro smartphone. The new device comes with 4GB+128GB and 8GB+128GB storage models.

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Realme Pad 2 Lite Tablet Launched At Rs 14,999 In India

The tablet comes in Nebula Purple and Space Grey color options. However, the company hasn’t announced any official sale date for the Realme Pad 2 Lite tablet in India. Notably, it runs on Realme UI 5.0.

The latest tablet comes at a price of Rs 14,999 for the 4GB+128GB base model. Meanwhile, the 8GB+128GB variant carries a price tag of Rs 16,999. For consumers, the Realme tablet will soon be available via the company’s official website, Flipkart.

The Realme Pad 2 Lite comes packed with a 10.95-inch screen like the Realme Pad X. It also provides a 2K resolution, a 90Hz refresh rate, and 450 nits of peak brightness. The display is optimized for eye comfort, featuring modes such as AI Eye Protection, Reading Mode, and Sunlight Mode. Besides, the high resolution makes sure users get smooth visuals whether browsing the web, watching videos, or playing games.

The table comes equipped with the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset. It is powered by an 8300mAh battery, similar to the Realme Pad X, and includes 15W wired charging support.

Intel Core Ultra 200S series chipsets for desktop PCs codenamed Arrow Lake, have been launched by the company. This is the first desktop offering by the chip maker with a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU).

With 36 trillion operations per second (TOPS) performance claimed, these will also be the first Intel chipsets to power AI PCs. Apart from enhanced performance via the NPU, the company also stated that the CPU and GPU have also received significant upgrades. The Intel Core Ultra 200S processors will be available in retail and online stores as well as via OEM partner systems starting October 24.

The company detailed the new chipsets in a press release. The Intel Core Ultra 200S processor family is led by the Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 285K as well as five other desktop processors. All of these features up to eight performance cores (P-cores) and up to 16 efficient cores.

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New Chipsets To Offer Faster Performance

Intel claims that the new PC architecture offers up to 6 percent faster single-threaded performance and 14 percent higher performance in multi-threaded workloads compared to the previous generation. The chipsets also sport a built-in Iris Xe GPU.

Intel noted that the Arrow Lake processors are focused on power efficiency, and offer up to 58 percent lower package power while running everyday apps and up to 165W lower consumptions of system power during gaming.

Speaking of the NPU, the dedicated system offers hardware-accelerated AI capabilities. Intel also claimed that the Core Ultra 200S series can offer up to 50 percent faster performance in AI-enabled creator apps compared to competing chipsets.

Speaking of connectivity, the Intel Core Ultra 200S series desktop processors offer compatibility with up to 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, up to eight SATA 3.0 ports, and up to 10 USB 3.2 ports. Moreover, they also support two integrated Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3.

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Intel Launches Xeon 6700E ‘Sierra Forest’ CPUs

Intel has made some big announcements along with the launch of Xeon 6700E “Sierra Forest” CPUs with up to 144 cores. The new CPUs are the first of the new server chips featured in the Xeon 6 family.

This family will come with both P-Core and E-Core variants launching at their respective timelines and for respective platforms. Intel noted that the Xeon 6700E CPUs are optimized for performance per watt in high-density workloads. These CPUs are said to be based around an open ecosystem with an open software and open platforms approach.

Intel wants the Xeon 6700E E-Core line to cater to data center clients who are using a 2nd Gen Xeon or older platform. The company notes that the new chip not only offers up to 4.2x faster performance and up to 2.6x perf/watt, but will enable users to save a lot of space, power, and money.